


Rose Blood

by lousywriter



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Sanvers Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:55:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lousywriter/pseuds/lousywriter
Summary: In a quest to save her people, pilot mechanic Maggie Sawyer was set to find a cure on another planet.After arriving at planet Valiante, she found a dropship with a woman who seemed to be asleep inside the capsule with a suit like hers.Maggie carefully walks to the dropship, careful not to disturb any living being on this planet, if there is one.  She remembers the ship; it was an old model of the one she arrived with, the one she made.”Danvera XXII,” she said as she touched the surface and pressed the red button.The ship let out an opening sound, and the woman wearing the suit gasped for air as Maggie held her. With the suit on, Maggie can only hear muffled voices.”I’ve been waiting for you,” the woman said and fell right in her arms.Would she be able to find a cure, or would she find something more than what she came for?-----
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer
Comments: 17
Kudos: 32
Collections: Sanvers Big Bang | 2020





	1. Part I

* * *

Rose, blood, magic, and her. Maggie keeps on dreaming about this woman with a face she doesn't recognize.   
  
Every time she tries to remember her when she wakes up, she can't. The image blurs in her mind like a pixel, and as she goes on with her day-to-day life, she forgets and then dreams all about it all over again.   
  
Maggie woke up, trying to catch her breath. The sweaty forehead, the trembling hands, that nervous feeling, and that flinch as she hears her alarm is an indication that she had a bad dream again.   
  
The same dream, the same girl, and that same feeling she gets every time this happens.   
  
She carefully stood up and heard glass breaking from her small kitchen. Her heartbeat raced as she tried to look for what and who was in her kitchen.   
  
She turned on the lights and saw a puppy with the glass of water broken and the pieces spilled on her kitchen floor.   
  
"Hey, there. What are you doing here?" She said and scooped up the broken pieces, careful not to cut herself.   
  
The dog just stared at her and didn't even bark. She felt like someone had trained this puppy very well to be quiet and not make a sound. Regardless, the puppy suddenly pushed past her, and a piece of glass cut into her fingers.   
  
She hissed, scaring the puppy who ran away through her open door that she forgot if she locked or not. She shrugged, she was not the type who left their door open especially at night.   
  
"Maggie?" She looked at the guy who peeked through her door, "What happened? I saw a dog running and it scared the hell out of me. I tracked the steps and, wait, you're bleeding. Oh god," the guy mumbled as he walked toward Maggie. The latter shook her head, she was used to this and she could handle him very well.   
  
"Alright, Winn. Stop, I'm okay. It's fine," she said as she pressed the hanky over her finger and tied it to stop the bleeding. Blood, she remembered her dream about the blood oozing from her head, her blood coming out from the stab to her heart.    
  
"Are you sure? You want to go see a doctor?" Winn persisted as he tried to grab Maggie's hand to inspect the wound.   
  
"I'm sure. And what are you doing up late? It's 4 am."   
  
Winn smiled hesitantly and scratched his not itchy nape. Maggie understood and nodded. It was probably a booty call but who was she to judge? Winn was an adult and Maggie had no business with it unless Winn allowed her.   
  
"Yeah. I get it. Come on, help me clean this up."   
  
"Alright."   
  
***   
  
"Nice work on the dropship, Sawyer." Nice work. She often got that remark and her bad habit was just brushing it off and never really seeing the impact of what she did. She never considered herself worthy of the praise and she was used to it.   
  
"It's just a missing screw, Jack." Maggie waved off and got the dropship to turn on. "Good to go. Have you ever flown one of these?"   
  
"A couple of times actually. Have you?"   
  
Maggie got quiet at the question and turned the engine off. She heaved a sigh and wiped her sweat with the towel Jack had offered.   
  
"Haven't. Just dreamt of it. You think that counts?" She lied. Maggie had flown a ship and a dropship a couple of times with her father who taught her everything she needed to know.   
  
"Are you kidding? You're the talk of the town. Youngest pilot mechanic, Maggie Sawyer. You can't fool me," Jack said as he drew himself closer to where Maggie was. "You know, I can take you to fly with me." Here went Jack again with the flirting and the sweet tone remark Maggie had always ignored because she only saw Jack as one of her brothers, like Winn. It was platonic and Jack knew it, too but who could resist the tan-skinned beautiful girl in front of them?   
  
"Shut up, Jack!" Maggie pushed the towel back to Jack and fixed her toolbox, pulling out wrenches and screwdrivers from her toolbelt. "I think I did when I was a child," she continued. She was a pilot, on a theoretical note. After the incident at Stalwarte, Maggie never got to fly a ship again unless it was a mission. 

Jack was quiet as Maggie continued fixing her toolbox but she heard a loud thud on the floor with the pliers and a sudden racket of an impact gun.

"Careful with those," she said. "Remember the story about the vise-grip?" Maggie pulled out a vise-grip with an unusual black and yellow handle and remembered the time she was late on her first day of training.

Their instructor had been holding a vise-grip and had been somehow mad, and Maggie hadn’t had the slightest idea why. She had turned to her co-trainees and had seen them holding their laughs, then there had been Jack who had pointed at the vise-grip.

"Where is that vise-grip?" the flustered instructor had asked, to which Maggie had answered, "You're holding it, Sir."

"Oh, Jack, you could've sent me a clearer message." To her surprise, Jack was lying on the floor unconscious, closed eyes tearing blood, and his tools scattered on the floor. "Jack? Jack, wake up!" She tried as she screamed and called for help from the guards outside the shop.

The help was taking too long so she opened the door and found the guards in the same situation as Jack.

"What the hell is happening?!"

***

"Dr. Danvers, is he okay?" Instead of telling Maggie about Jack, Dr. Danvers instructed Maggie to follow her to another room.

Maggie was confused as to why the doctor was examining her, checking her face and neck and her temperature.

"What the hell is going on?"

"They can't know about you. They can't see you." Dr. Danvers walked back and forth which disconcerted Maggie more and she did her best to stop Dr. Danvers from pacing. "You can save us all." Dr. Danvers gripped Maggie tightly with both her arms as she whispered something inaudible and Maggie panicked, so she pushed the doctor away, who hit the table and the vase hit the floor.

The door opened and it was Winn.

"Maggie?"

"Winn."

"Why are you here?" Winn asked and offered a nod at Dr. Danvers, "Eliza, what is this?"

"Nothing. I gotta go. . . I have to check on my patients." As soon as Eliza left, Winn brought Maggie out of the room, who was still at a loss for what was happening.

“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Maggie frustratingly asked Winn as she ran a hand through her hair, her back against the wall, and the feeling of not knowing what to do made her slowly sit on the floor.

Her head dropped to her knees as Winn slowly caressed her back. She could hear Winn’s soothing words but at this moment, they were not soothing as she couldn’t understand any of it. Her mind went back to the helpless body of Jack and the guards outside her shop.

“It’s fine, Maggs. I’m here, you can calm down now.” Winn’s soothing words helped a little and his asking of funny things Maggie remembered on the spot. “You remember that vegan ice cream you introduced me to? I couldn’t forget that—hey, it’s fine.” He looked at his sobbing friend and felt the need to be the stronger person today.

The question was why? Why was she able to survive something that had cost the lives of the guards and left her friend barely breathing in the medical bay? What was it with her that she was not affected and that Dr. Danvers had told her that she could save them all?

“What did I do now?”

“Nothing, Maggs. Nothing. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

\---

The next day, Maggie was on her way to work when several guards stood outside the shop, banning her from entering. She tried to show her identification card but it was not accepted and as much as she wanted to punch the guards, she kept her cool and started asking what was happening and what protocol it was to ban someone from their own shop.

‘This is bullshit,’ she said to herself. “Will you tell me what’s going on?” she pleaded. Hoping to get an answer from one of the “brainwashed” guards as she called them.

“Nialah, right?” The young woman suddenly lost composure and became teary, “will you tell me what’s going on?”

“How did you----”, the woman started but was cut off when another guard spoke authoritatively to Maggie. He was tall and Maggie wanted to be intimidated but her rage kept her still.

“Number 9, no talking. Miss Sawyer, I’m afraid you have to start referring to Number 9 as Number 9 and not by her birth name that was given up by her parents when she started training to be a guard. This is a crime scene and you are not allowed here. I highly suggest that you see the announcements posted before you come here to harass one of our guards.”

“I’m not--” and “She’s not--” combined words of Maggie and Nialah were not heard as the other one continued talking.

“You may go now, Miss Sawyer.” As he handed Maggie a folded pamphlet and introduced himself, “I’m John Jones, head of security. Any reports of you coming back here will be directed to Maxwell and you will be punished. Have a nice day.”

Without further ado, Maggie took the pamphlet and sensed something was wrong with the new head of security. She had never seen this man before and how come Nialah was so scared? And why were none of the other guards speaking or even moving?

Maggie wanted to spy a little more and hid behind the wall. She fought so hard not to be punished or taken to prison for going to her shop - the crime scene. 

“Damn it,” she said as she turned around and bumped into Winn who was looking for her. The pamphlet fell wide open on the floor.

“Looking for Volunteers to save the planet and find a cure. For more details, go to the Pit,” she read. She looked at Winn who offered no answer, but gripped her as she tried to walk past him.

"Maggie, you can't go. It's too dangerous. No one even knows what's out there."

"But you'd be there for me. Right, Winn?" The silence made her look twice at her friend. “We can fit into my dropship. It will work, I will make it work or we can find another and I can fix it, Jack and I-----” She stopped as the realization hit her that Jack was in the medbay without any help and their leader Maxwell was not doing anything but finding volunteers to save the people of Stalwarte.

"I can't be with you."

"What do you mean?” she asked, not getting any idea as to why Winn was acting weird and not helping her.

"The dropship is only for one person, and the others were all damaged. The only one that's working is yours and..." he trailed off, not really wanting Maggie to punch him because of this information.

"And what?"

"And they're auctioning it." As soon as she heard those words, Maggie ran and went to the Pit. Winn could not hold on any longer and came running after Maggie.

The Pit - where everyone gathered for announcements and everything that was happening in their territory; the Stalwarte.

"Maggie, you can't be there." She hadn’t realized Winn was following her and was stopping her from going rogue and claiming her ship, "they'll send you to prison."

‘Yeah, right,’ she rolled her eyes at the comment. It was the second time she had heard those words today and maybe she was not afraid as long as she was fighting for their rights and solving the mystery that was happening to everyone around her.

"That's my ship, Winn. My father gave it to me, that's the only thing that's keeping me sane on this damn planet," she hissed, lurking to see people gather around the Pit where their leader Maxwell stood in the middle of.

Winn’s hurt face made her wince at her own comment. Winn had kept her sane, and they both survived after the incident that killed Maggie’s parents.

She remembered Jack who had fallen ill to a disease they knew nothing about. Jack was one of her closest friends at work who she considered her brother like Winn. They kept her sane, besides that, they’re the only family she had left and she wanted to do everything she could to protect them.

“You and Jack. You have kept me sane, you protected me, and with Jack’s condition I can’t just stand here and wait for someone to find a cure for the disease we know nothing about,” she added, breaking from Winn’s grasp.

"I know, but we can't go against our leaders. They'll send us to prison! Or worse, they will have our heads." Maggie stood there not knowing what to do, ”Also, they don’t know who you are.”

It was a rule to them that anyone should not question the Stalwarte's way but obey them. No one had ever protested against these rules, except one, her father. Oscar Stalwarte - former leader of the Stalwarte who had discovered an inevitable truth about their planet and had been starved to death for it, that was what the rumors said, but Maggie knew otherwise, and she had been with her dad until his dying breath.

"Folks, we are gathered here today to find a solution to save our planet. Yes, you've heard rumors about our former leader, Oscar. May he rest in peace, but these are rumors, and we should not believe in them."

Maggie listened beside Winn, who put his arm back around her shoulders, just in case Maggie decided to run in the middle of it and got shot by one of Maxwell's soldiers.

"I need to do something," she whispered, "I have to do something."

"We can't. Shut up and just listen. We can't risk it."

"I need a plan. Give me a plan, Winn," she urged him, and she noticed the crowd had gone silent, and as she looked at it, Maxwell Lord was walking towards them, and Maggie felt Winn squeeze tightly around her, as nervous as she was right now.

"I just seemed to hear whispers, and I looked around and figured you two were murmuring about something that doesn't concern the present condition of our people," Maxwell stated as he was near them, and stopped in front of Maggie, "Would you like to share your thoughts, Miss?"

"Sawyer, sir. Maggie Sawyer."

"Sawyer. You're the youngest pilot mechanic we have. Are you a student of Oscar?"

"Yes, sir. He's my…," she answered. "Apologies for the murmur, sir. My friend and I were just discussing some...things. I’m a friend of Jack and I want---" she was cut off as Maxwell shushed her with his finger.   
  
"Hmm," Maxwell nodded and studied Maggie from head to toe. "Mister Schott, I suppose." He turned to Winn, who was visibly sweating and clutching Maggie's hands tightly. He pointed his finger at Winn. Maxwell really didn't know anyone working for him or the one he led. A leader who only thought about himself and no one else.

Maxwell had been Oscar’s friend but he didn’t know about Maggie. All the blame had been put on him when Oscar died but he used his authority to scare the people to follow him. He was next to Oscar, after all.    
  
"Y..y-yes, sir," Winn stuttered. He was just about to open his mouth again when the dropship shown in the monitor exploded. The dropship Maggie had just fixed with Jack and now, gone with the ashes. Maggie’s eyes shut as she realized what the guards had been doing at the shop. They took her ship without her permission.   
  
"NOOO!!!" Maggie shouted and went running to where the explosion had happened. Winn stood still, not able to run and chase after Maggie.   
  
"Secure the area and find the culprit. Now!" Maxwell ordered.   
  
The soldiers scrambled to run past the people around the Pit. The camera turned into a grey screen, Maxwell pointed a gun at it and shot three times. His hands were trembling the same as Winn, who was standing beside him, looking so scared and frightened.   
  
Maxwell's eyes turned to Winn with a shocked expression while the latter slowly backed away from him.   
  
"Sir, we found the one responsible for the explosion." Maxwell blinked his eyes and turned to his radio.   
  
"Tell me who it is."   
  
"It's your secretary, sir. Miss Kara Zor-El."   
  
The Pit got quiet upon hearing the news. Winn and Maxwell looked at each other, shocked, but Maxwell showed a pained expression that stung Winn's heart, for he had no idea what that meant.   
  
"Bring her to me," he ordered and walked past Winn.   
  
"Max!" Winn called but stopped himself as he realized what he just called their leader, "I meant, Lord Maxwell, let me talk to her."   
  
Maxwell turned to his soldiers and nodded.   
  
"Bring him, too."   
  
***   
  
Maggie woke up gasping for air. She coughed because of the smoke all around her and found one of Winn’s friends lying just beside her. She recognized her from the sudden gatherings Winn has invited her to. A friend Winn had failed to mention the name of.

"Hey! Hey, wake up," she said as she tried to slap lightly on the face of the unconscious woman, "come on, wake up!"

Maggie looked around and saw the soldiers coming for them on the camera, coming for this woman actually, who caused the explosion. Her ship was important, but the life of this woman who committed a crime was more important now.

She was left with no choice but to drag the woman to hide from the surveillance cameras.

"You don't need to hide," the woman said in between coughs and gripped Maggie's arms, "Winn helped with the cameras. They can't see us." As she tried to clear the smoke, she removed her glasses and wiped the dust, earning a shocked expression from Maggie. She knew this woman; she thought she did at least.

“Is there dirt on my face?” A lot, Maggie wanted to say but heard the soldiers moving towards them.

"Get up. They're gonna kill us both," Maggie ordered. The woman just stared at her in silence, feeling nervous, "come on."

"No. They can't. You can show yourself and tell the world that you are Maggie Stalwarte and---"

"Shut up," Maggie hissed as she peeked through the post, "Ah!" She felt a sting on her neck and realized that the woman had sedated her. "What the hell?" Her surroundings became wobbly, and the last thing she saw was the woman offering her a peace sign and dragging her to a place she would know when she woke up.

“I’m very sorry.”

***

“What did you do to her?”

“Nothing. I just made her fall asleep.”

“Why is she not waking up yet?”

“Calm down, Winn. I didn’t kill her. We need her.”

“Calm down? What if she doesn’t wake up?”

Those were the voices Maggie heard upon opening her eyes. She was lying down on a bed and could see Winn and the woman from the Pit.

“ _ S _ he---is awake.” She cut them off, and Winn hurriedly went to Maggie to check for injuries. He was about to comment on the band-aid on her finger but remembered what had happened to it so he just let it go.

“Maggie, oh, god. Thank you, you’re awake.”

“Oh, Rao. I told you she’s gonna wake up.” The woman from the dropship that had exploded intruded the reunion and rolled her eyes at Winn. “Hi, I’m Kara.” She offered her hand to Maggie. It took seconds before Maggie answered and looked at Winn who was switching his gaze between Kara and her.

“You destroyed my ship.” Maggie bitterly said and walked past Kara, ignoring her hand. The latter woman just scratched her nape and smiled apologetically at Maggie. “Why?” she hissed. The ship was her only way to save her planet, to save Jack and Winn.

“To save the people of Stalwarte,” Kara stated. Maggie stopped in her tracks, her back facing the two. “You can save us,” she added. Maggie was not convinced and continued toward the door. As eager as she was to hear what the next part of saving the people was from Kara, she turned the knob and didn’t bother to look back.

“Try again,” she said and closed the door behind her. Much to her surprise, Dr. Eliza Danvers was outside the door.“What the hell?”

“I need you to come with me,” Eliza said. Maggie stood there steadily, her heartbeat racing. She knew what that look was about. She knew the face a doctor made when something bad had happened to someone related to her. “It’s about Jack.”

The sound deafened her for a moment, she remembered her mom, her dad, and her sister - her family. She remembered the feeling of losing them all at once and the one who delivered the news was the same woman standing in front of her, telling her that one of her closest friends had died.


	2. Part II

* * *

“Valiante,” Maggie said as she stepped her right foot on the planet. “I stepped my right foot first,” she smirked into her radio. “Hello, Winn? Kara?” But none of them answered. All she could hear was the frequency from the radio and it suddenly made her frustrated. She was alone now.

She had stepped her right foot first to tease the two because they had said she would walk with her left foot because that was where she could balance in space, they argued a long time and now Maggie was without anyone, alone on a planet she didn’t know if she could live on.

Feeling scared of what could happen, she hopped back to the dropship and was ready to fly again when the charted course changed. She slapped the map back on the table and calmed herself with a breathing exercise she had adapted from Winn.

That strange feeling of being in someone else’s space overwhelmed her, she had not removed her suit for safety precaution even though the machine told her that the air was breathable and she could walk on the surface. She was afraid to die, knowing no one would rescue or find her. The worst thing though, no one would know she’d died.

She closed her eyes and offered a moment of silence to herself. She remembered what her father had taught her. “Don’t be scared. It’s just another planet. You will survive,” she repeated three times in her head. She felt like a kid again, when her father had always brought her to his escapades and missions without anyone else knowing except her mom, who had reminded them to always be careful and enjoy the journey.

“I’m not scared,” she stated and felt as if her father’s presence was enveloping her in a warm and comforting hug, “I’m not scared. It’s just another planet. I will survive.”

She opened the dropship again and was surprised to see an old ship that looked like hers. A ship she hadn’t noticed before. Maggie carefully walked toward it, wishing to not disturb any living being on the planet, if there was one. She remembered the ship; it was an old model of the one she arrived with, the one she made.

“Danvera XXII,” she said as she touched and studied the surface and pressed the emergency red button.

The ship let out an opening sound, and the woman wearing the same suit as her, gasping for air. Maggie held her and tried to listen for the voice of the woman. Judging from the suit, it was old and the frequencies were maybe broken, all she could hear were muffled voices and deafening feedback. She pressed the small button on the woman’s helmet to stop the feedback and stared at her with a wide smile on her face.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” the woman said and fell right on top of her, and Maggie lost the balance.

An alarm went off but she couldn’t run because the woman was heavy and she hadn’t adjusted to the gravity of this planet yet.

“Oh, come on,” she said as she pushed back. She roamed her eyes around, only to find people in black suit jackets circling them with guns smaller than her radio. “I come in peace,” she said as she tried to stand up and carry the woman beside her. “We come in peace. Hold your fire,” she nervously said, calculating her moves before one of the people decided to shoot them both.

“Han yu iggem Reina?” One of them asked. Maggie did not answer for she did not understand a word. Reina, she thought, which sounded like a queen to her.

“She says, why are you holding our queen? State your name and business,” said the one that looked like their leader.

“Queen?” She asked, looking at the woman she was holding. How did this woman become their queen? Why was she in the capsule?

Maggie jumped to her feet when she was asked again, now with the guns lowered down but the soldiers were ready to attack with any wrong move she made.

“Fine, I am Maggie Stal—Sawyer, Maggie Sawyer. My ship ran out of gas and it landed me here?” She stated, unable to come up with a lame excuse she just blurted out, “And no, I didn’t kill your queen. I saw her inside the capsule and now we’re here. I told you before, I come in peace.”

The team, as she might have thought, whispered to each other and the one who had spoken earlier turned to her.

“Bring them to the Balai,” she ordered, the soldiers were ready to tie her up when the woman spoke again, “untied.”

***

She opened her eyes and saw the most beautiful hazel eyes she could ever think of. They were staring at her with dilated pupils and the hazel brown eyes were changing to a slight color of green. The eyes blinked and so did she.

The dream, she remembered her dream. It was like she was dreaming again. Now, with the face she could clearly see.

‘Am I dreaming?’ she thought. She blinked, again and the eyes blinked with her. The eyes were now with a shade of green.

“Sometimes my eyes are green.” As soon as she realized what was happening, she immediately stood up and made her and the one with the hazel sometimes green eyes bump heads with each other. “Aww,” she heard and saw the woman on the floor holding her forehead.

“I’m sorry, are you okay?” She asked. She felt a small bump on the corner of her right eye. “Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Are you?” The woman turned to her and it was the woman from the dropship. The one they called “Reina” or queen. The woman touched the corner of Maggie’s eye and she flinched a bit from the contact. “You need to be treated.”

She felt her face heat up at the concerned tone and moved slightly away from the woman.

“Come with me,” the woman stood up and offered her hand to Maggie. “I will do no harm to you,” and with that she took the woman’s hand and walked beside her.

Maggie soon realized they were in a room built like a castle inside and the outside was a different tone of someone with a clearly different side. She could see the soldiers training, all with their weapons and guns. She spotted an open field where children were playing, all in the same uniform as the soldiers. On the other end, a hospital.

“Are you enjoying what you see so far?” She was startled. “What planet did you come from?”

“Stalwarte, Your Highness,” she answered, careful not to cause some commotion by her tone toward the “Queen” of the planet she was on. “Are you really their queen?” She couldn’t help but ask. She felt the eyes of everyone around her, it felt like daggers sticking through her. She hid behind the woman and the woman just laughed at her.

“I am,” she answered, before turning toward her people. “This is Maggie, and I want you all to treat her like one of us. She came here in peace and as soon as we know what really is her plan here, she stays by my side.  _ Dangadang na, dangadang ak. _ ”

As much as Maggie wanted to know the meaning of those words, she was answered by nodding heads and some disapproving looks. She was pretty sure those meant “don’t kill her or you’ll be punished” or something like that. 

She was just a child when her father had taken her on his trips and never had her father told her about this planet. Maybe it wasn’t here before and the society had evolved and people had been living for hundreds of years, hidden from the likes of Lord Maxwell who wanted to conquer every planet he saw and kill all the people living on it.

“We have arrived. I suppose I haven’t told you my name.” The woman turned to her, she shook her head and remembered that the woman had been asleep when she said her name to her people. So why did she know her name? A quizzical look was all she could offer. “I am-----”

“Lady Alexandra, you are needed at the mothership. We have a situation.” She felt like the woman was torn between going to the mothership and going with her. “Now, Alexandra,” the soldier said and she looked at Maggie apologetically. “Now!”

“I will be back,” was the last thing she said to Maggie as she was escorted by flying patrollers on a platform like surfboards who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Alexandra,” she whispered. She didn’t realize the one who called Alexandra was standing beside her. “Apologies, sir?”

“Call me Jeremiah. Come with me, Maggie.”

The doors of the hospital suddenly opened with the ID Jeremiah used. As they walked through the halls, which were a decontamination area, her radio crackled and she realized she was still wearing her suit, but her helmet was nowhere with her. 

Jeremiah looked at her and she felt uneasy and tried to shut down the comms. Maybe it was Winn trying to reach her.

Another door opened and they were met by a tall woman in a long blue gown, with a white coat and a nameplate that read as Astra El.

“Astra, do the protocols and examine her. I will be at Alexandra’s side today,” and with that, Jeremiah vanished into thin air. Maggie didn’t know how to react and when Astra walked toward her, she backed away.

“I wanna go home,” she said and tried to turn on her comms again. She was trying to reach Winn but all she could hear were buzzing sounds.

“Your technology won’t work here, Maggie Stalwarte.” The bit of Maggie that manufactured tears and goosebumps had announced their presence. “You don’t have to be afraid---”

“Stop! Stop! Stay away from me!” She shouted. “Don’t move!”

Stalwarte - a name hidden from others to keep her safe. The name of the planet where she was born, the planet she left to save.

“Oh, Maggie. You’re still that little child I remember. You probably don’t remember me,” Astra said as she walked slowly toward Maggie, “but I do. I remember you so well, Margarita.”

Margarita, the only person who had ever called her by that name when she was growing up was her dad, and her mom when she wanted to scold Maggie for breaking something in the shop, or when Maggie snuck out at night to play with Winn.

“Back off!” 

Maggie pushed Astra to the side and ran past her. Her head was spinning, she didn't know what even is going on. She started sweating and she felt herself getting cold. She found the door but as she ran faster, the door got further away from her.

She continuously pressed the button, hoping that the door would open a little quicker, the soldiers were running after her, she was tired and she could feel her heartbeat racing, ears pounding, she was so tired and she just wanted to wake up if this was all just a dream.

The door opened and she didn’t know where to go. She looked behind her, the soldiers were gone or they had become invisible. For what it was worth, Maggie really didn’t care, she just wanted to get off of this planet and go back to Winn, to Stalwarte - her home.

The forest - there was a restriction sign going to the forest. Winn was right, she thought. No one even knew what was out here, and she was ready to find out.

“Damn. I shouldn’t have listened to some people I just met and let them convince me to go to the other planet to find a cure for something that killed one of my friends. Damn you, Jack!” She couldn’t hold back her tears anymore and so they started pouring. She entered the forest and the soldiers were not able to find her, rather they were not able to enter as they stopped when she reached the sign just a few meters away from the forest.

***

Maggie found a lake and a safe zone. She needed to find her ship and she had no idea where it was. She took off her suit and was left with a thin suit and just her pants and the shirt she had on under the thin suit. She reached for her comms and her little toolbox, she found the radio on the suit and tried to fix it.

There was a lot that happened beyond the forest and she didn’t wanna dwell on those things until she could talk to Winn...and Kara who she just realized had some resemblance to Astra. Astra - the name sounded familiar but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Maggie wiped off the sweat coming from her forehead and looked at the dismantled radio laid down on her suit. Frequencies, she thought. She was worried about Winn and Kara being punished for letting the ship go, and letting their mechanic go. Maxwell must have found out about it by now and the two had been spending a lot of time together, rendering service to the people instead of working for the cure.

“Shit,” she said and laid down her tools. As much as she wanted to check the ground before laying down, she was too tired to roam the area to check for wild animals.

She felt the sun on her face and the cool breeze calming her tensed nerves.

“Breeze! Lake!” Maggie exclaimed like a child who had been given a present. Her excited nerves turned to nervous ones when she saw Alexandra by the lakeside looking at her with puffy hazel eyes. She must have been crying.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, unable to remove the accusative tone in her voice. “Are you here to tell me about my past, my father, my name?”

Alexandra felt pain in Maggie’s voice. She took a deep breath and sat down at the lakeside. Maggie had just noticed the dirt on Alexandra’s face, and blood, the sputter of blood evident on her cheeks and chin. Maggie looked at the weapon on the ground, full of blood. Alexandra had been in a fight and based on her reaction, Maggie thought she didn’t like what had happened.

She walked toward Alexandra and sat beside her. Alexandra was crying, she may not know the right words to say and she didn’t wanna pry but she felt like being with someone at their lowest times even without saying anything could somehow make them feel better.

“Alexandra. I’m here.”

“You can refer to me as Alex, Maggie.”

“Okay, Alex. I’m here,” she repeated. Alex, what a beautiful name, but Alexandra suits her very well. Maybe a few people call her Alex.

Seeing the lake and Alex, Maggie had no doubt Alex wanted to swim away from her worries and the blood on her face, but looking at her right now, the “Queen” seemed to have lost control and composure. Different from the Alex she saw when she introduced them to her people and said words that Maggie had yet to decipher.

“I’ll be back,” Maggie said and went to get her things. She laid them down near Alex’s spot who hadn’t moved and was staring at the far end of the lake. Maggie got a knife, opened her thin suit, and tore off the sleeves of her shirt, the sleeves of the suit wrapped around her waist. She took the knife and cut a short length of vine nearby to tie her hair.

She took her torn off sleeves and wet them with the lake water. She kneeled in front of Alex and looked her in the eyes, asking for permission. Alex seemed to get it and nodded. Maggie took Alex’s trembling hands and wiped the blood off of them.

“I lost my father today.” Alex’s words shocked Maggie to her core but she continued cleaning the blood. “It’s a war and he has not left my side since the day I was born. He taught me everything and now he’s gone. You met him.” Maggie had met a lot of people today and she didn’t know which of them was Alex’s father - had been.

“I’m sorry,” Maggie said and went to remove the dirt and dried blood from Alex’s face. As she stared at Alex’s features, she remembered something. Alex’s worried eyes concerned her, she shrugged off the thought and went back to cleaning Alex’s face.

“Is something bothering you? Do you know your father?” Maggie nodded, not ready for the conversation but the silence and the feeling that she was safe with Alex made her tell her story.

“I do,” she said and finished cleaning the last spot of blood off Alex’s chin. Maggie felt Alex’s eyes focused on her. She looked at Alex and was met with longing eyes, they were staring intensely at each other and Maggie stopped wiping on Alex’s cheek and steadied her hand there. Maggie leaned forward so that her forehead touched Alex’s and they both closed their eyes. Alex held Maggie’s head and steadied it. “I do remember my father. He is gone, too.”

“Tell me about it”, Alex whispered. Maggie swallowed hard and it suddenly came to her that she didn’t wanna talk about her father or Alex’s father. This moment, this silence was enough, the touch and the comfort.

“Maybe next time,” she whispered back, feeling each other’s breath. “Do you know how to swim?” 

“I do,” Alex answered. They opened their eyes now and offered each other the most beautiful smiles. Maggie’s heart warmed up to the sight, it was like a couple of butterflies fluttered around her stomach. “Do you?”

“I do, too.”

***

Maggie hadn’t felt this happy in a while. She and Alex had been spending a lot of time together in their safe zone, away from the wars of Valiante. War to Maggie meant the life of people different from her, in Valiante every person was brave, they were born to train and to fight. Since the day they saw the sun, they had been fighting for their lives from enemies they had yet to seek.

They made a tent, a shelter for Maggie to stay. She didn’t wanna go back outside the forest and Alex understood and gave Maggie what she needed, except her ship. Alex said that it was being taken care of and she would be able to use it once it was fixed. 

Alex said something about Astra that made her flinch. No matter how many times Alex had convinced her that Astra was a good person, she didn’t wanna talk to her. Alex wanted to know the reason why, but Maggie kept it to herself.

“I will be back before you know it,” Alex bid her goodbye to Maggie and the latter just smiled at her in response.

“I’ll be here,” she added and before she knew it, Alex’s soft lips found hers. She was shocked at first but moments later, she responded and gently held Alex’s face to deepen the kiss. She felt something warm in her heart. She heard imaginary fireworks filling up the sky. 

They were both breathless after the kiss. Maggie removed the strands of hair covering Alex’s face.

“It was you”, she said. Alex was clueless. Before Maggie could continue, Alex pecked a soft kiss on her lips and left. She still heard her say Alex would be back by night time. It was Alex, the girl in her dreams was Alex. The questions were how and why?

Maggie came out of her reverie and looked around the tent she and Alex had made. It was like they were camping, the thing was, she didn’t know when this would end. Maggie found the stone that she took from the lake and looked at the carved lines on it, seven lines. She had been here a whole week and Winn still hadn’t answered.

Frequencies. She remembered Astra.

“Every planet vibrates on different frequencies. I knew it.”

She took the radio and her toolbox. It took her some time but she was able to hear voices from her radio, muffled voices. It was Winn.

“Maggie Sawyer, 2212. Winn, do you copy?”

“Sawyer, 2212. Anyone there?” She repeated. Unfortunately, it wasn’t returned. 

Seven days, she was wondering what could have happened if they caught Winn. Kara was already a suspect for blowing up a fake ship.

“Winn Schott, 2523. Maggie, if you’re hearing this. You need to come back.”


	3. Part III

* * *

**Rose Blood - Part III**

// Day After The Explosion //

Maggie sat opposite Maxwell in his office. She had no idea what she was doing here. Her friend just died and she was summoned here along with Winn, and Kara - the only suspect they had for the explosion.

"What am I doing here?"

"You made the dropship."

"My dropship," Maggie clarified, "and you stole it."

Maggie was enraged. Her friend just died, the only thing that could save him was on another planet and she could only do that if she had the dropship.

"Choose your words nicely, dear."

She stayed silent, she might be punished for speaking up. She remembered Maxwell as a good man, her father had spoken highly of him but when Oscar died, Maggie didn't know what happened to him.

Silence filled the room as Maxwell stated his plan to find a cure and that he was looking for a volunteer to do it. Maggie was so curious as to why he did not want to do it himself.

Given the name Stalwarte - only a few people had managed to bring glory to its name and Maxwell wasn't one of them, Maggie thought.

"Why not do it yourself?" She spoke with venom and Maxwell felt the sting. "You stole my ship and now it’s been destroyed. You might have something that could help us.”

"Sshhhh," Maxwell shushed her. "Careful now. I know they can hear us."

Maggie had enough of his bullshit. He didn't care about anyone but himself. She stood up and looked straight into Maxwell's eyes.

"My friend died!" She shouted, "and the ship is gone and if you are looking for a volunteer I will do it. I will save my friends." She looked at Winn and Kara on the other side of the office. She would do it for them.

Maxwell was surprised but did not approve.

"No. Not you."

"I am the only mechanic here and I--right. Not me." Maggie wanted to say that she was a pilot, too - had been. She stopped herself before she could reveal her true self and make Maxwell take advantage of it.

"You may go," Maxwell ended and turned his back on her. Without hesitation, Maggie got out of Maxwell's office and pulled Winn and Kara outside, too.

// Few Days After //

"My blood?"

"Yes," Kara answered and looked at Dr. Danvers. "I know you have a lot of questions and Dr. Danvers is willing to answer them all."

"So, that's why Maxwell does not want me to go."

"What?!" Winn's voice overpowered Dr. Danvers' and Kara's voices, "what were you thinking?"

"I volunteered," she nonchalantly said and sat on the far end of Dr. Danvers' laboratory. This had become their hideout. "I want to help. I don't want any of you getting harmed," she said with candor. 

Silence filled the room. No one even knew what to say. Maggie had a reason to go but they did, too. For a period of time, she was joined by Kara and Dr. Danvers, she felt a strong connection and started caring for them as they cared for her.

The moment they ran from Maxwell, Kara and Winn had hidden the ship from the people and Maggie was helping them assemble and fix it.

Dr. Danvers was also helping them as she examined their blood from time to time to check if they had caught the disease and at this very moment, the doctor had found something in Maggie's blood that could help them save their planet.

"She has to go." Maggie and Winn looked at Dr. Danvers, "Maggie has to go."

"But why?" Winn added. "It's in her blood, she needs to---oh, oh. Yeah, as much as I hate it. You need to go."

And all the dots had connected in Maggie's head. She had seen Kara from before, the dog - she had found a picture of the dog in the lab, and Dr. Danvers had told her before that she could save them all.

Her blood, what was it with her blood, and saving the people of Stalwarte? Aside from having the blood of a true Stalwarte, what could she do to help cure the disease? What could she do to give justice to Jack's death?

She took a deep breath. The look on Kara's face confirmed that she knew it would come to this. She barged to where Kara was standing and pushed her against the wall, holding the collar of her shirt.

"Did you bring the disease here?!" She shouted, Winn and Dr. Danvers stood still, watching, unable to utter a word. "Tell me! Did you?! Did you plan all of this?"

"No." She let go of Kara who fixed the collar of her shirt and her glasses. "You will know all about it when you go. We will tell you everything about it when you land there."

"If you trust us," Dr. Danvers added. Feeling ashamed of her reaction, Maggie nodded an apology to Kara and Dr. Danvers.

"I'm in."

// Day of Maggie's Journey //

"Alright, so we have a bet," Winn started, Maggie felt like he was just saying it to lighten the mood and not show his emotion to Maggie.

"I bet you'd lose," Maggie chuckled. Winn made an "aww” face, "What is it?"

"We bet that you'll step your left foot first for balance. Tell us as soon as you do," Kara intruded. "And take care. Here are the radio and your toolbox."

"We'll see you soon, Maggie," Dr. Danvers added to the farewell.

The three left Maggie at the dropship and went to the lab to monitor Maggie's heart rate and align the chart course for Maggie's journey.

"Closing the door," she said to her radio. She felt like the three were all smiling. She strapped in and took a deep breath. "Here we go."

"Not so fast, young lady." To Maggie's surprise, it was Maxwell. Without any guards or soldiers. "Get down, right now!"

"You can't make me come down," Maggie pressed another button to start the takeoff but Maxwell was persistent to get to her. "Back off!"

"No. I made a promise to your father. Hear me out," Maxwell added, gasps were heard from her radio. "Please, don't make me break it."

"No. You don't know my father. You don't know me. Get back now," her tears were welling up her eyes and she fought the urge to cry. "You killed him."

Maxwell was silent. Maggie didn't know if the silence was an admission to the crime or because he was shocked that Maggie took the bait.

"I---No!" Maggie started the engine and was already counting down in her head, her tears falling down.

"I promised that I would not let you----," Maggie didn't hear the rest of it as the dropship took off and Maxwell was pushed back and left at the area.

"Sawyer, 2212 on air. I'll call you on the other side."

// Today //

Maggie heard loud beeps coming from her radio and found the helmet vibrating. She opened it and a flood of messages came through. It was so overwhelming that she muted it and after a while, clicked on the button and the first date of the message played.

'Maggie,' it started. She heard Winn's voice and she was so glad, her heart fluttered at the sound of Winn. 'If you're hearing this. I hope you're okay.'

'We miss you already. Kara and Dr. Danvers are not here, yet. It took us a lot of time knowing that Maxwell knew what you did. It is fine now. Don't worry about us, you'll do good. Goodbye for now.'

Maggie was crying as she continued hearing voice messages from Winn, Kara, and Dr. Danvers.

'Maggie, you need to find their leader. Bring them here.' Her eyes widened as she heard it and looked outside to see if someone was listening.

She had found her. She had found their leader, she had found Alex.

'We need to test them.'

'It's been months and we haven't heard from you. Winn will send out a signal and if you find it, go in that direction. We will meet you there.' It was Kara.

'Maggie, we need their blood. Everyone is dying, Winn has been infected.'

Maggie stopped the messages. She put her hands on her mouth to suppress her loud sobs but it was not enough.

They were right, she was supposed to save them. And all she had been doing was be scared and hide in the forest, all she had been doing was spend time with Alex.

"Maggie?" She stopped herself from crying and didn't notice that Alex was already kneeling in front of her. The sad look on Alex's face made her feel guilty.

How was she supposed to take her? How was she supposed to tell her that they needed her blood? When she left, they said she could save them because of her blood, and now it was another one’s blood.

Alex caressed her back and as she leaned toward her, she could smell a different aroma coming off of Alex. She looked at the queen and saw that she had a small cut on her throat and a tiny blood clot shone on it. She looked closer and as she closed her eyes, she realized that Alex's blood smelled like freshly-picked roses.

"What are you trying to do?" She backed away and realized that she had been entranced by the smell of Alex's blood.

She looked straight into Alex's eyes and a confused look was given to her. She couldn't do it, she couldn't take advantage of her. She couldn't just talk and say to Alex that they needed her blood and she needed to come with her to save her planet.

"Tell me, Maggie. Tell me what's bothering you." Maggie ran outside the tent, her hands on her knees, breathing deeply.

Her head was spinning, she couldn't do it. She just wanted to leave. She was hopeless and she knew it, but she couldn't let her friends die. She couldn't let Winn die.

"Maggie?"

"I never wanted to be here! I never wanted to have the weight of my whole planet on my shoulders! I never planned this. I just wanted my ship. It was my father's ship and they took it. And now I'm stuck here, hopeless."

"You're not hopeless, Maggie. I'm here for you. We can--."

"No. Stop, please, just stop. I don't wanna hear any of the "you are meant to save your world" bullshit. I am done with that. Would you leave me alone, please?"

"Maggie, I-" Alex had no idea what it was all about. She wanted to help but didn't know how.

"Alex, I said, please."

"Okay. I'll be inside----," Alex tried to add but Maggie just had enough and lost her calm.

"JUST GO!" Maggie regretted it the moment the words left her mouth. She tried to run after her but she was left dumbfounded.

She needed to talk to someone. She packed her things and went in the direction of the hospital. She needed to talk to Astra.

***

_ 'Dear Maggie, _

_ I wanted to apologize for what you've been through and for the things you will have to do to save your people. I know it's hard, trust me, I've been there. I want you to understand and trust me and Dr. Danvers.  _

_ We kept you away from here because someone has brought the disease here and we are trying to find out who with the help of Winn. They are trying to target you - your blood. They can sense and smell your blood, we had to let you go. _

_ I know it may take some time before you are able to read this, I just want to let you know that time passes slowly on the planet you are going to. It must have been months since you took off from here and I promise we will take care of Winn. We will take care of your people. _

_ Take care, Margarita Stalwarte. _

_ Sincerely yours, _

_ Kara Zor-El' _

Maggie crumpled the paper she found hidden in her helmet, the one Kara gave her before she took off. She had no time to break down and be angry, all she needed to do now was get answers.

She was running and hiding past the Valiante guards. Being the mechanic that she was, she overrode the key code to Astra's office and found her sitting with a cup of tea as if already waiting for her.

"Well, what brought you here?"

"Tell me everything."

And so Astra told her about her father Oscar. The war between Stalwarte, Athwart, and Valiante - who kept the peace from the three planets.  Maggie had never heard of Athwarte. Maybe her father didn't want her to know that one of the planets waged war against Stalwarte.

"Do you know anything about the disease?" Astra was a doctor, if someone knew about it here, it must be her and she must know how to find a way to cure it.

"What disease?"

"The kind that makes people sick and cry blood, and...die."

Astra suddenly got up and strapped Maggie to her seat. Maggie hadn’t realized she was sitting on a patient's reclining bed. Astra turned the bed away from the door to hide Maggie. Her hands and feet were tied to the bed as Astra whispered to her.

"Don't move."

The door to Astra's office suddenly flew upon and judging from the reflection on the window, they were soldiers of Valiante. Weapons readied towards Astra. Maggie wanted to know what was happening but she was instructed not to move. Astra knew better than her so she obeyed.

"What is your business here?"

"The queen is missing." Maggie's heart started to beat faster. Alex was missing. She must have gone somewhere. Valiante was not that big of a planet to get lost in unless she was kidnapped.

"We believe it has something to do with the woman who came here. We found this in the forest, it was a record of saving her planet and taking the queen with her," one of the soldiers said. Maggie suddenly felt nervous. She recognized the voice, it was the soldier who did not believe she came here in peace. Maybe that soldier knew something, she thought.

She examined the soldier’s physique in the reflection and made a mental note to sneak out and talk to her alone.

"If you see her or you have any idea where to find her, tell us." Astra didn't say any other word. The soldiers left and it was then that Maggie realized that they took Astra with them, unconscious.

***

Maggie felt pain on her wrists as it took her a while to get out of the bed where Astra had strapped her. Alex was missing, Astra was taken, and she was in disguise to find that one soldier she knew could help her.

"State your business," the soldier said. "Tell me where the queen is."

Maggie was caught red-handed. She raised her arms in defeat. She couldn't fight knowing so well that she'd be dead in a minute.

"I need your help," she said. "I know where Alex is."

"You're coming with us," the soldier said and suddenly there were three of them.

"Wait, hold on. Stalwarte!" She exclaimed. "I'm from Stalwarte. And I need to find a cure to help my people. Athwarte brought it to my planet and they will soon bring it here." She was bluffing. She knew no words could help her right now.

"All the more reason to come with us." One of them was about to cuff her when Alex and a soldier arrived. The other three soldiers' eyes widened in shock and backed away from Maggie.

"Let her go, she's coming with me," Alex said without even looking at Maggie. She noticed that the lead soldier was with Alex. She was not missing, she was with the other one. Maggie felt a pang of jealousy seeing how the lead soldier she remembered from when she arrived here had always been at Alex's side.

"Of course, Lady Alexandra." The three soldiers obliged and scurried away like scared little cats. Maggie didn't know why. She wanted to say that they took Astra but she couldn't find the words. Only shame and guilt for shooing Alex away and now she needed her help.

"Is there something you wish to say, Maggie from Stalwarte?" Alex asked, barely looking at her. Maggie did not answer and felt angry as the soldier beside Alex snickered at her. Maggie rolled her eyes and thought of a better way to address the problem.

"I want to talk to you...in private," she glanced at the soldier. Maggie was not sure but she saw Alex's eyes light up and smiled a bit. "Without her," Maggie added and turned to the soldier who was now ready to combat and pounce on Maggie when given a chance.

"It's fine, Vasquez. She's a friend. We can trust her. Maggie, let's talk but not here. The walls have ears." She didn't know what Alex was talking about but she seemed serious and concerned. 

***

“I didn’t know how to say it. I didn’t know time goes by more slowly here than on Stalwarte. I need to go back. I have to go back.”

Maggie was pacing back and forth and Alex just stood there watching her after listening to Maggie’s side of the story. The real her, her mission, the messages, and the thing she needed to do to find the cure – except one thing, taking Alex back with her.

Alex was the queen of Valiante and she couldn’t just abandon her people.

“The Athwarte spies are here.” Maggie stopped in her tracks and found Alex looking so anxious and disappointed that she let this thing happen “You’ve been in the forest so long. The planet is in chaos and you don’t see it. Jeremiah – my father, he was killed in combat in space, no one knew that he was there and we had a plan of attack but they knew and they killed him. He was floating in space and I never got the chance to say goodbye to him.”

“Alex, I didn’t know.” Maggie wanted to apologize for a lot of things. She had been stubbornly staying in the forest while Alex was fighting a battle to protect her people, “I apologize.”

“The forest was my safe zone, too.” Alex stood up, ready to leave Astra’s office. “I will give you your ship to go back to your planet and save them in the way you know how but I am not coming with you. I can’t abandon my people. Vasquez will lead you to your ship.”

Without any other word, Alex turned her back on Maggie who was left speechless. She was leaving, Alex was asking her to go. She wanted Alex to look back and talk to her one more time. She wanted to apologize for the damage she’d done but all she could do was stare at Alex’s retreating form.

She wiped her tears away and went in the direction Alex went but she was already gone and Vasquez was waiting for her with a concerned and disapproving look. She rolled her eyes and just followed to where Vasquez was taking her.

“You know you can talk to me,” she suddenly said in the middle of their walk. Alex was right, the planet was in chaos and the buildings were ruined. “It’s alright, I’m not here to harm you. Oops, wrong way.” Three soldiers surrounded them, soldiers Maggie had not seen before.

“Do you know them?” Maggie asked, her hands raised in surrender, afraid she might die if she ran.

“I have no idea but I guess I know her.” Their eyes went wide at seeing who was walking towards them. It was the soldier Maggie saw that didn’t seem to be concerned with the planet. “I figured you’re the spy, Imre,” Vasquez said. The soldier smiled, maybe it was a confirmation, Maggie thought.

“Too bad I caught you first, Vasquez, and this person here being the descendant of Stalwarte.” She turned to Maggie. She heard gasps around her. “Bring them to the pit,” she ordered but before the soldiers could walk into position, Maggie kicked Imre’s stomach to which Vasquez followed and shouted, “run!”

"Run faster!" Vasquez shouted, she was fighting the soldiers with her own gun. They were headed to the forest, she was running as fast as she could.

She wasn't taught how to fight with weapons. Hell, she couldn't even throw a punch. She hid behind a tree, she heard rustles of leaves, it was getting nearer and she didn't know what to do.

Maggie found a small log nearby and reached for it.

"This will do." She heard footsteps, nervous as she was, she hit the person coming toward her with the log and the soldier instantly fell down. "Not bad."

She took the weapon and looked back to find Vasquez, but she was gone and the other soldiers, too.

Maggie seemed lost in the forest, she really had not explored this part before. She walked carefully in case one of the soldiers was still around. She looked for the tent she and Alex had made.

"Alex," she thought. Vasquez was not around and Astra was gone, too. The Athwartes were here and she had no idea. She wanted to run and get Alex out of here. She was taking Alex not because they needed her but because Alex was not safe.

  
  



	4. Part IV

* * *

Maggie felt hopeless running away from the soldiers. Seeing the tent, though, sparked a bit of hope in her. Outside, she found a small bonfire. She hurried towards the tent and as she went to open it, Alex walked out.

Maggie ran toward her and hugged her tight. Alex hugged her back. The warm humidity of the forest made Maggie feel sticky and suffocated. Sweat rolled down her skin in thick, salty beads. She could feel her heart throbbing inside her chest from the run.

She was exhausted, she went to her knees trying to catch her breath. 

"I'm so glad you're okay," Maggie said in between heavy breaths. She cupped Alex's face and Alex just leaned into the touch. The feeling of seeing Alex safe made her feel safe, too. She felt like home, Maggie thought. Her lungs felt like they would burst and her throat was so dry but all she could think about was Alex.

"Alex?" Maggie called. Alex was not answering, instead, she kissed Maggie's forehead, it was a long one and Maggie knew something was wrong. 

"You have to go," Alex said without even looking at Maggie. She remembered the soldiers and started to panic.

"No. You don't understand. You're not safe here. You have to come with me."

Alex held Maggie's hand and they sat in front of the bonfire. Maggie wanted to ask how and why but she was so scared that all she wanted to do was to get out of there...with Alex.

She looked at the fire, it was like Alex. She felt the fire when she was with Alex, it was given to her and she knew she had to keep the fire burning; she had to keep the flame alive.

Maggie wondered why Alex didn’t show any worries when she told her that the soldiers were running after her. That Vasquez was lost in the forest, alone. Probably taken by Athwartes with Astra.

"You have to go. Please, Maggie. I will be fine here."

"You're coming with me!" Maggie ordered but Alex was stubborn. "I know who the spies are. They took Astra, and Vasquez was with me a while ago and they chased us and then they were gone. Please, Alex. I just want you to be safe."

"I can't abandon my people," was all that Maggie needed to hear to shut up. Alex knew and she did not fear it. She was their queen and her duties and responsibilities were to her people and not to someone she just met - someone like Maggie.

"I fixed your dropship. Your things are already packed. All you need to do is go there." Alex stood up, the cracks in her voice evident as she said goodbye to Maggie.

They were standing face to face. Inches away from each other.

"I will be here." Alex leaned in to find Maggie's lips. The latter easily responded, trying to make time slow down for both of them. She knew that there was no magic that could end this war, no powerful being could help them slow down the moment and savor every second of it. Maggie knew this would be the last time.

She hugged Alex tight, maybe time would turn around and help them see each other without the disease, without the war, without thinking of their people. Maggie thought that maybe they would see each other again and this was not a goodbye.

As they let go of each other, Alex started walking away from her and the soldiers appeared out of nowhere.

Maggie defensively hid Alex but the latter refused and walked to where the soldiers were.

"Alex, stay," Maggie pleaded; Alex's back turned to her. "Please? For me. I want you to stay with me. Can you do that?"

"I...I-I can't. I'm sorry."

"Alex," Maggie begged and held Alex's hand. "Trust me."

Maggie's heart was broken into a million pieces when Alex let go and shooed her away. She tried to take one more step, but spears and arrows were suddenly directed at her by Alex's soldiers.

"Look back, Alex. Please," she continued to beg, but she felt a sharp pain on her neck when one of the spears got so close to her throat that it made a small cut. She swallowed hard and slowly, careful not to do more damage to her neck, and stopped herself from crying. 

She saw Alex linger for a while, probably wanting to stay with her but she knew what Alex was doing. The scent of Maggie’s blood filled the air, before any of them could react, Alex gestured for her soldiers to leave and that she would follow after them.

Maggie scoffed as soon as the soldiers left her, and she was left with Alex's retreating form backing away from her, not trusting her, and hurting her indirectly.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!" She cried out loud, confident that no one was listening to her.

She destroyed the man-made tent she and Alex had built and threw all her things on the ground, and she just broke down and lay there, waiting for the darkness and the fire to consume her.

The fire that Alex had given her.

***

Maggie stared into the vastness of the sky. Her thoughts lingered on Alex, how she was doing, was she safe? Maggie didn't really know the answer to these questions.

Her dropship and Alex's dropship could have made it to Stalwarte. The ship where she found Alex asleep.

_ 'I've been waiting for you.' _

_ 'I've been waiting for you.' _

Alex had been waiting for her. For how many years? How many days? When she woke up on Valiante, Alex had not said a word about her and if she knew her before, Alex kept it to herself.

"Astra!" She exclaimed. Astra knew her, she knew Maggie's father. She knew the reason why Maggie was on Valiante, but Astra was gone, taken by Athwarte soldiers.

Her thoughts came back to Alex. Alex who was alone now on Valiante chose her people over her own safety. That's what a queen did. Maggie wiped the bitter tears and removed her seatbelt.

_ 'Kara, 2523, can you hear me?' _

' _ If you're hearing this, you need to stay there. We're coming to get you. I saw your signal and we are tracking your coordinates. If you can hear this, steady your course.' _

The signal - Winn had taught her how to do it before. She had sent a signal to the sky, hoping that they would see it. Before she launched, she left a note to Alex in the remains of their man-made tent.

Maggie leapt at the sound of Kara's voice. She took her radio, aligned her course, and stabilized her steering. No matter how much she hated being in space as it reminded her of her father, she needed to do this to save them all.

"Sawyer, 2212. I heard you. Sending you my coordinates. Please tell me everything's okay," she hoped, she knew it was impossible but she hoped.

It took a while before a response came. Maggie was nervous, holding tightly to her radio. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard a reply.

_ 'Maggie. I am so glad you're okay.' _ It was Kara, and judging from her tone, nothing was okay.  _ 'Stalwarte is in chaos, Maxwell turned out to be so evil searching for you. You'll know more when we get to you. For now, I want you to take a rest and we will hit you up when we can reach you.' _

"Copy," was all that Maggie could say. Kara responded with a sigh and they both turned off their radios.

She hadn’t told her about Winn, maybe Winn was with her and he was charting their course and searching for Maggie's coordinates.

She thought of her father. Stalwarte had been at peace when he led them. It was joyful and everyone was happy, there was no war, no killings, no greed for power, and no disease.

***

_ “Maggie, you have to let me go,”  _ Maggie wanted to say “no,” she wanted to shout at the top of her lungs. She wanted to say that she couldn’t and she wouldn’t do it, but her struggles were not making any sense.

_ “Your blood and my blood will become one.” _

_ “The only way to save them is to give me up. You have to let go, Maggie. Let go.” _

_ “No, Alex!” _ The only moment she was able to speak. She woke up with a heavy heart. She was positive Alex was seeing her too in her dreams. Alex was the woman in her dreams. Alex must have communicated with her in her dreams.

Blood. Her blood and Alex’s blood. She looked at her fingers, the wound from the broken glass was healed. Her blood was different, she had never given any and had not been allowed to by her father. She caressed the scar and got something from her toolbox, a cutter. She sliced a tiny bit of her skin and the smell of her blood filled the air.

She remembered the aroma, the color, the sense of it. It was the same as Alex - rose. She came back to reality when the comms on her ship turned on.

“This is Kara Zor-El, approaching Danvera XXVIII.”

“Sawyer, 2212. I see you. Ready for launch.”

“We’re opening up the backdoor. We’ll meet you at the launchpad after. Take care.”

“Copy. I’m coming in.”

Maggie started the dropship and found the backdoor opening to the starship that carried Kara here in space. She was glad that she was not alone anymore, she didn’t really know what day it was or how much time had passed by. All she knew was that her friend was safe and was coming to save her.

“Save Maggie first, the rest of the planet next.”

She hopped off the ship and saw Kara and Eliza waving from the inside. She took off her suit and helmet and as soon as the door opened, she gave them both a tight hug. Maggie felt herself tear up at the moment, but she didn’t give in. She had to be strong, she had to save her planet, and she had to save Alex.

“Where’s Winn?”

“He’s here but he’s not well. Maxwell took him,” Eliza explained, not making eye contact with Maggie. “I know this is a lot to process and the planet is dying. It has been months, Maggie and a lot of people died.”

Maggie offered a bitter smirk. Months have passed but for her, it was just almost two weeks. She didn’t feel like it was a lot when in reality, it was really a lot. The weight of the world on her shoulders, her identity hidden from her people, Jack died, Winn was dying, and she needed to save Alex. She was coming back for Alex.

***

“Why is he not waking up? Winn, it's me. It's Maggie. Wake up, now!" She noticed the IV drippings on Winn, his eyes shut but were pouring blood, Winn was crying blood. It was now covered and a lot of blood was hanging to make up for the blood loss.

"Maggie, people who were infected were comatose. Others healed, some didn’t and a lot of people...were dead," Eliza explained.

"Winn was infected when he was working at the Pit, helping people. After that, Maxwell took him from us and we thought Winn was gonna die and be burned,” the doctor paused. “That's what they do with people that were infected," Kara added.

"But Maxwell took care of him," Maggie ended the discussion that surprised Kara and Eliza. Maggie knew about Winn and Maxwell, "and you snatched him because?"

Kara and Eliza exchanged glances, contemplating whether to tell Maggie or not. No good news would come out of the situation right now but Maggie hoped that she would be able to see Maxwell once again to ask him about her father.

"He wanted you to have this," Kara gave her a small box. Maggie silently took it and looked at the helpless Winn.

"What do we do now?"

"Your blood and Alex's," Kara said, "Eliza was not a receiver of the blood and I came from another planet. The receiver of the blood should do it."

"Hold on. All this time you’ve known her?"

"She's my sister. I'm adopted, I sent her messages about you and you have a connection. That's what it does with people who have ‘rose blood’. Maggie, trust me. There’s no time to back out now."

***

Maggie tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. She bit her lip in an attempt to stop the tears prickling in her eyes.

"All done. This was the last one. You have to rest."

"Dr. Danvers," she called. The doctor wiped the tiny clot of blood from where she injected the syringe to get blood samples from Maggie. The small hole was now covered with masking tape and a cotton ball.

"Hmm?" The doctor hummed, fixing the samples, and getting ready to test them.

"Do you miss her?" She asked. "Do you miss Alex?" She repeated. Eliza turned to face her. Maggie wanted to take back the question when she saw the hurt on Eliza's face.

"Yeah, I do. I miss her," Eliza answered, her words faltered and her voice seemed to fail her. "A lot, actually. Every day I miss my daughter and her father," Maggie's eyes widened. Her father, Alex's father was Jeremiah and he was dead.

"I have something to tell you." It was now or never, Maggie thought. She knew it wasn’t her place to say it but she wanted to tell Eliza.

"About what? Oh, dear. I understand what you've been through. Take your time, this will be a long journey. I'll just take this to the lab."

Eliza was ready to walk away when Maggie had spoken.

"About Alex's-," she stopped, it was not her place and she wanted Alex to tell her "mom" about her father, "I...I miss her, too," she sincerely said.

Eliza understood the look. Maggie focused her eyes on the floor and she saw Eliza's boots. She looked up and Eliza offered her a hug.

"I know."

***

"Alexandra, there's too many of them. Vasquez is not here. We have to find Astra!" One of Alex's soldiers shouted through the comms. "Fire!"

"Get down!"

Alex hid behind a tree. Her weapons in her hands, full of dirt and blood, she managed to crawl past the Athwarte soldiers.

"Lady Alexandra, any plans?"

_“You have to let me go,”_ Alex whispered, hoping that someone she said those words to could hear her. _“Let me go,”_ she said without any hesitation. “I’m the one they need. I can’t lose any more of my people to this war.”

“You’re not losing anyone.” Alex’s face lit up at the sight of Astra with Valiante soldiers behind her, ready to fight the war they were born to fight.

“Astra!” Alex was so glad to see Astra fully-geared for combat. She saw Vasquez, too with stitches on her forehead that were probably made by Astra. “Vasquez, you’re alive.”

“I am, and I did what you asked me to.” A nod of understanding was exchanged by the two. ”So, what do we do?”

Alex asked for help from Astra and her still alive people from different departments to help plan their strategy. Athwartes were starting to invade them and their ships were everywhere. Her people were scattered to protect their own, somehow, the Athwartes had a secret weapon that could easily take down Valiante.

The disease Maggie had been talking about, the Athwartes had brought it to Stalwarte, and now Valiante. Alex wished Maggie had gotten her message and would not hate her for what she’d done.

She remembered Maggie and the way they had been the moment Maggie landed on this planet. Alex knew her from the records Kara had sent during her time in Stalwarte. They knew that the Athwartes had infiltrated the planets a long time ago, and they needed to find a solution to it.

Oscar had been a great ally, the Valiantes and Stalwartes had lived peacefully then until Athwarte had become jealous of the union. They had threatened and waged for war; it had been held back but now that he was gone, it was happening and Alex needed an answer to how they would survive this. How would she save her people, and how would she save Maggie?

_ "I love your ears," _ Maggie murmured, and to her surprise, Alex heard her and touched her ears. Alex remembered how great the feeling was. Maggie unabashedly smiled at her and showed her ears to Alex. She took Alex's hand and placed it near her heart as she stroked Alex's pointy ears.

Her pointy ears that distinguished her from everyone else. A certain ability to talk and see people in their dreams, the capability of being a part of their dreams. That’s what it did to Maggie. Aside from the messages, Kara had sent, Alex did her magic to talk to Maggie.

_ "Have you seen a mirror, Alex?" _

_ "No. Not since that day," _ she exclaimed painfully. She looked down at her feet and wiggled her toes. The day that Kara and Eliza left her to investigate and take down Athwarte before they could start a war. The mirror showed her what it would be like seeing them behind you and after some time, they were gone.

Maggie raised her chin and stared lovingly at Alex. She started removing the strands of hair covering Alex's eyes and caressed her cheek softly.

_ "It's okay."  _ Alex's cheeks reddened, she felt herself blush at Maggie's gesture. She looked everywhere but in Maggie’s eyes. She touched the hand on her cheek and felt the soft skin of Maggie's hand. She closed her eyes to feel the moment, and as soon as she opened them, the dreaded question in between them was answered by a soft smile and a whisper.

_ "Take me home." _ She tried to reach for Maggie but she couldn’t.

The war had been going on for a long time, they were sleepless and a lot of her soldiers had died fighting. If she was going to end it, she had to give herself up for her people. She had to bear it so they didn't have to.

“Alexandra, are you okay?” Alex was shaken back to reality by a loud sound. It was a mothership. Her face lit up as she recognized the sound. It was a familiar hum of the engine that suddenly made the place quiet.

“Kara?” Hoping that the ship carried her sister and her mother, the courage of giving herself up vanished as she found hope again.

The ship landed facing the tiny quarters they had made. The sound of the door opening alerted her soldiers. She too was holding her weapon, ready to shoot at any danger she saw.

It was her soldiers in a different uniform. Stalwarte’s uniform. She saw John, her very trusted soldier who had trained her since she was a child.

“Lady Alexandra, John Jones reporting for duty. Stalwarte sends their regards and sent their people to help us.” The soldiers marched to meet the soldiers of Valiante. There were many of them and Alex couldn’t believe it.

Kara came out next with Eliza and a guy who she had not seen before. Maybe it was Kara’s husband, for time so flies at Stalwarte.

“Alexandra,” her mother started and came running toward her. She felt safe and at home. It was like she was born again.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” she exclaimed, thankful that even though she had not seen them for the longest time, it was like no time had passed and they were happy.

The reunion was cut off when the guy spoke and offered his hand to Alex.

“It is nice to finally meet you, Lady Alexandra. I’m Winn.”

“Winn,” she repeated. She looked behind, hoping to see a familiar face show up and run towards her. It took a silent minute before she spoke again, “where’s Maggie?”

  
  
  
  
  



	5. Part V

* * *

_ 'Blood of my enemies beware.' _

_ 'Let me go.' _

_ 'Rose, blood, magic, and you.' _

_ 'Save me' _

_ 'I don't wanna be alone.' _

_ 'Save me, Maggie.' _

"Alex!" Maggie shouted as she woke up. She looked around her, the glass walls, the vials, and syringes scattered on a nearby table made her sick to her stomach.

She saw the IV on her and remembered what had happened. She turned her gaze to her right and saw Winn lying on the other bed. Maggie walked carefully holding her IV.

_ 'Save me.'  _ A familiar voice in her head made her stop in her tracks. 

"Alex?" She looked around but she couldn't find anyone. "Kara?" She called. She smirked, she must be losing her mind from the experiments and one of the side effects was a hallucination. Also, she must have lost too much blood.

_ 'Maggie, save me.' _

"Dr. Danvers?"

_ 'I will wait for you. I have to go now.' _

"Stop!" She shouted. The room got quiet, and the voice was gone.

She straightened up and was surprised to see Winn curiously looking at her. She ran toward him.

"It worked! It worked! Thank god! Winn, you're back." Maggie contained her tears. She pressed the button to alert Kara and Dr. Danvers about the situation.

"Maggie?" A clueless Winn asked. Unable to form any more words and comprehend what was happening.

"Yes, Winn. It's me."

"Where are we?"

"Space, Winn. We're in space."

"Holy---really? Why? What happened?"

***

"So, you're saying that you left Stalwarte to go to another planet?"

"Valiante, right," Maggie confirmed. Winn couldn't contain his excitement and his mind was slightly blown away by the revelations.

"Right. And then you met Alex and found out that when you mixed her blood and your blood, Dr. Danvers and Kara made a cure and now I'm back. Wow, I think I might throw up."

"Maybe that's a side effect." Dr. Danvers arrived to check on Winn's vitals while Kara was plotting their course and plan of action to save Stalwarte. "Stay still," the doctor said and got a blood sample from Winn.

"Can I remove mine, now?" Maggie asked, her IV was keeping her from doing excessive things, like sneaking out and taking her dropship to save Alex. "Fine." She agreed, knowing that the doctor wouldn’t let her do it.

"Have some rest," Dr. Danvers told them both. "You'll need it. Kara is plotting our course. I will have to make more of this formula to save our people."

Winn and Maggie nodded. Maggie just laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She closed her eyes and tried to reach the voice talking to her a while ago. She felt Winn move in his bed next to her.

She missed it. She missed Winn so much and she was so thankful that Winn understood her silence.

"So, Kara, who has been my friend for the longest time is not a Stalwarte but a Valiante? And Dr. Danvers is, too?" He started. Maggie opened her eyes and looked at Winn, the curious Winn she loved and liked a lot. "Tell me about it."

"Yeah, that’s right. Kara told you before I went here I think, and you must have forgotten. I left you and went to Valiante to find a cure. I met their queen. Dr. Danvers' daughter."

Winn was speechless. He made a silent "OMG" and Maggie just laughed at him. A lot to process, but Maggie had gone past that and all she needed now was to figure out how long it would take them to reach Stalwarte and save their people.

_ 'Maggie.' _ She heard the voice again.  _ 'Come back.' _

"Maggie?" Winn called. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Should I call Dr. Danvers?"

"No, wait. Did you hear that?"

_ 'Be safe. I have to go. I have to save my people.' _

"Hear what? I'm calling Dr. Danvers." Winn was about to get up when Maggie stopped him, "You're kinda freaking me out. Are you sure you're okay?"

_ "I'm coming back for you," _ Maggie whispered, hoping that the voice could hear her, then the answer came and Maggie felt her heart skip a beat.

_ 'I know. I'll be waiting.' _

"Dr. Danvers!" Winn shouted. Maggie was shocked and covered Winn's mouth, she didn't realize the needle came out.

"Ouch. Shut up, Winn!"

"Sorry?" Winn wiped the blood on Maggie's hand and smelled the scent of it. "Rose blood."

"You knew about it?" Maggie took her hand away and looked painfully at Winn. How could Winn know about her blood but she didn’t? The accusations started to form in her mind, hoping that she was wrong and Winn was as clueless as her.

"No," Winn defended. "I just heard it before...from Maxwell." Maxwell, the remembrance from Maxwell was the box Kara gave her when Winn was still unconscious. It was full of Winn and Max’s memories. He worked for Maxwell for a while but something happened that Maggie was curious to know but didn’t pry on Winn’s business.

Maxwell became evil and no one knew what had happened to him and how Stalwarte was doing when they left him. 

"Oh, I remember now. He told me he didn't want you to go back to space because he promised your father that you would be kept safe and that he didn't want you to feel responsible for what could happen in the future. That's why he tried to grab you out of the dropship. Maggie, you can end the war!" Winn exclaimed but Maggie was not getting any of it. Maxwell killed her family and Winn's. It was Maxwell she saw.

"He killed my father, Winn. You were there. You saw him."

Winn nodded, trying to remember what his conscious mind heard when he spent his time ill in Maxwell's lab.

"Did he brainwash you?"

"No, Maggie. Listen."

It took them a while to gather their thoughts. Maggie put a band-aidon the tiny wound and sat on her bed as Winn did the same.

"I saw him, yes. All this time we thought he killed them. It wasn't him. It was someone from Athwarte. Maxwell let you carry on with that hate. He wanted you to stay away to protect you. Athwarte was trying to find you and the only way to show yourself was the disease. Only someone with rose blood could save them and it was you, Maggie."

Maggie sighed. All the dots connected from that time a dog came to her and the moments she saw Kara lurking and looking at her. When Jack died, and Dr. Danvers told her that she could save them all.

"Astra told me the same thing."

"Wait, Astra?"

"I met her on Valiante. She knew my father and I didn't believe her at first but Athwarte soldiers came and I sought her out and she was taken." And I left them. I left Alex, she thought.

"Rose blood. You all told me a while ago that your blood and Alex's blood were mixed. How did you get her blood? Why isn't she here?"

"I left her. She fixed my ship and dropped a package there. Only then did we realize it was samples of her blood."

"Oh, Maggie." Winn couldn't help but comfort his crying friend. He felt what Maggie felt before.

"I left her, Winn. I left her and if she dies, it’ll be all my fault."

The silence enveloped them for a moment and Maggie remembered all the feelings she had felt when she was with Alex. Her time on Valiante, being so carefree and so afraid for her life at the same time.

"What about Alex? Tell me about her." Maggie wiped her tears and smiled at Winn.

"Do you remember that woman I told you I've been seeing in my dreams? It was her."

"No way."

"Yeah."

She told him about the moment she had landed on Valiante. How she had been found by the soldiers and accused of killing their queen. She spoke with so much love that Winn was smiling at her the whole time.

Maggie narrated her whole journey on Valiante. The butterflies she had felt when they’d kissed and the pain when Alex hadn’t looked back and had left her to save her people.

She understood that part a lot more now. Alex didn't leave her nor did she choose her people over Maggie. Alex chose her people to save Maggie so that Maggie could save them all.

"You'll be my favorite couple," Winn said with his dreamy eyes. "Hold on-----"

"All passengers aboard. This is Kara Zor-El. We're bound to Stalwarte. ETA 10 mins."

***

"This can't be right. This can't be right!"

"Maggie, hey, Maggie."

"No. No. No. I knew what I had to do. I calculated it. I knew it would work. No. No."

"Maggie!" Winn shouted to a hysterical Maggie pacing relentlessly in her lab, not listening to anyone, panicking.

"No. What is this? I have my notebook here. I placed my pen here. I have my calculations right. No. No, no!"

"MAGGIE! Hey!" Winn tried to be as patient as he could, but Maggie started to beat herself up and started to hit her head against the wall. "Maggie!" He pulled Maggie out of the area and embraced her like a child who lost her favorite toy.

"It's okay. It's okay. Shhh. Calm down."

Maggie started to relax on the floor where Winn held her, and she looked at him, and her tears started to fall as her lips quivered.

"I killed her, Winn. I killed Alex."

"No. You didn't. Should we try that again?"

"No. This won't work. I will just end up killing her with this thing. I'm not an expert. I don't know this. I need some air."

Maggie ran away from the lab, away from Winn, and went to the Pit. The Pit where her journey had started. The place where she saw her dropship "explode".

She looked around, and Stalwarte had been going above the chaos, easily starting again with a few of her people who had now been trained as soldiers, headed by Kara.

The moment they went back to Stalwarte, she had revealed herself and took back her father's name. Kara, Eliza, and Winn had backed her up. With the grace of the universe, Maxwell had unraveled the truth, unfortunately, he hadn’t survived. Winn had been so devastated then, Maxwell hadn’t taken the cure, he’d said his time had passed and it was time to join the spirits of the dead.

Maggie had struggled to lead at first but her people had helped her and the Valiante soldiers who she had been introduced to had been the ones who had taken her ship. Kara had known them and they had helped her execute the plan.

Maxwell hadn’t known that Valiante had infiltrated the Stalwarte, only the Athwartes had been who he had seen as enemies.

Speaking of Valiante, she saw someone familiar hiding in the corner. It was a Valiante soldier, wearing the Stalwarte's uniform.

"Nialah?" She called. She remembered her, she was one of Valiante's soldiers. "What are you doing?"

"Same thing you’re doing,” she turned to Maggie and offered her a smile, “thinking."

They sat there in silence. She remembered her, she called her name when they were in the shop and Nialah was so shocked because as part of their training, no one should talk to them and know their names. Maggie didn't know that but she remembered her working in the shop with Jack sometimes.

“Are you ready to end this war?” Nialah asked. The war between Valiante and Athwarte, the war Alex had been fighting for so long. Maggie wondered if Alex had survived - if she was surviving. If she was with someone and if Astra and Vasquez were safe with them.

The war had cost the life of Alex’s father and her father. Alex was left to lead the Valiantes, her mom and her sister were sent to Stalwarte to save them. They saved her life by sending her to Valiante and she was thankful for it.

Their time on Stalwarte passed way faster than on Valiante. Stalwarte had enough time to prepare and plan their strategy along with some of the Valiante soldiers.

The question lingered in her mind. Was she ready to fight and end this war? Was she ready to save them all and save Alex?

“People of Stalwarte, this is Kara Zor-El speaking on behalf of Valiante soldiers.” The announcement quieted the Pit. Kara’s voice could be heard all over the place. “You will be sent to Valiante along with the rest of us to help stop the war caused by our common enemy, the Athwarte who had long brewed this war to happen and now we are facing it. We are ready to fight and we will have peace again.”

Maggie looked at the nervous Nialah. It was her first time fighting, Maggie could tell. She tapped Nialah’s shoulder and gave her a nod.

“I’ll see you there,” Maggie said and left to get back to Winn and finish what they had started. A weapon that could save them all.

She heard her father.

_ “You’re a mechanic, Maggie. You can figure it out.” _

***

Alex stepped back, balancing her weight on her right foot. She threw a curved punch at the Athwarte soldiers’ temple. She turned to her side and brought up her right forearm to counter a blow. She formed a fist with her left hand and threw it at the soldier’s jaw. 

Alex ran, she looked behind to see who had followed her. She tried to save herself from falling off the cliff. The forest, her safe zone, had been destroyed by the Athwarte’s trying to find her. Alex continued to run and turned away from the cliff. 

She fell face first, she tasted blood in her mouth. She had to get up. Alex rolled on her side, kicking the soldier who was behind her. A foot came up and kicked her in the face, she was unable to block it. The soldier pulled her to her feet, almost tearing the suit she was wearing. Alex heard the slight rasp of material ripping. Her sight was failing her.

‘ _ Let me go’,  _ she whispered. She asked the soldier what they wanted to do with her.

“Kill you.” The soldier replied. She remembered the voice. She crinkled her forehead, trying to recognize the soldier. “I’m not who you think I am. I am wearing his face but I am not him.”

“What did you do to John?”

He did not reply. John was her very trusted soldier. It was not him, it was not John who went to Stalwarte and came back to them. They were in danger, their plan of action had been revealed and there was no way to save them.

Alex found herself back at the edge of the cliff. He pushed her, she fell right into the lake. She tried to swim, but someone held her from below. She pushed and tried to get away from someone holding her.

_ ‘Hold on,’ _ she heard. The voice shocked her, it was impossible, she said. Maggie hadn’t come back for her. She had not been with Kara and Eliza when they had come back here.

_ ‘Hold on. I’m coming for you,’ _ another one. She was sure it was Maggie.

_ ‘Let go, Alex.’ _ And she let go and let the lake swallow her. To whoever was holding her and keeping her below, she was sure that it was not an Athwarte soldier.

After some time of holding her breath underwater, that someone let go of her and swam away. Alex weakly tried to push herself out of the water with her arms and hands. She saw the shimmer of sunlight rippling on the water above and found a tent similar to what Maggie and she had built.

She thought of Maggie. She had held on, but where was she?

With death lurking around the corner, everything she had learned about surviving dissolved from her brain. She stayed there and her eyesight was becoming dark and deluded. Her limbs felt heavy and her body was numb. Alex felt every muscle in her body ache in protest as she struggled towards the surface.

As she closed her eyes, she felt soft fingertips trying to grasp at her, the last thing she remembered was Maggie looking down at her and calling her name. 

She came to her. Maggie came back for Alex.

***

Alex woke up feeling the exhaustion from her run. She looked around, it was the tent she and Maggie once built. She called for her but received no answer.

“Maggie?” She went outside. She didn’t realize the cold towel on her forehead fell down, “Maggie, are you here?” It was like calling for a ghost, Alex thought.

It was cold, and a small campfire seemed to die a little. She saw Maggie sitting there, she called again but she did not answer.

She went to Maggie, her eyes offered sadness. Aside from that, it reflected the flickering of the bonfire, Maggie’s iris containing a small picture of the fire before them.

_ “Wake up, Alex.” _

“What?” Alex asked, unable to decipher what was happening. “What are we doing here? What happened to you? What happened to the people?”

_ “Wake up.” _

“I don’t understand.”

_ “You have to wake up. Now!” _

“Alex? Mom, she’s awake!” Kara called. It was just a dream, she dreamt of Maggie. She looked around hoping to see her but Maggie was not here with them.

“What happened?”

“Nialah saved you from the lake.”

“John! He pushed me! But it was not him, it was a doppelganger. We are not safe. They know our plans!”

“Calm down, now. We heard about it, and we’re taking care of it. We are in contact with the real John and he’s on his way here.”

Before any of them could react, there was an enormous explosion. An orange flame had decided to punch its way through the barricades. Windows shattered. Smoke and fire rushed out. Thousands of pieces of glass and steel showered down. A huge piece had been taken out of the side and the roof of the building. Alex had seen the size of the bomb.

A blinding flash came from the point where the missile struck and a white cloud rose in the air. They took cover and went to their weapons. The Athwartes had found their quarters.

“Evacuate the people now and run like hell,” she ordered. Another explosion was heard and every soldier lay on the ground trying to protect their ears and organs. 

Alex heard more. At those instants, she could see everything around her: her planet and the fields and her people moving through them, men who sounded like Athwarte soldiers who swept the ground before them with the barrels of their rifles.

“IN POSITION!!!” She called. She was not ready to lose at all. She couldn’t let go, this was her home and she was going to protect it at all cost.

Her soldiers and the enemies stood far away from each other. Weapons in hand, ready to fight and save their people - the other pack ready to claim and invade the planet they had wanted for so long.

Alex and the leader of Athwarte who was her soldier before stood face to face. Their soldiers on their nerves waiting for a go signal.

Before any of them could shout “attack!” another explosion came and wiped out the soldiers of Athwarte. Everyone was shocked as a few Athwarte soldiers ran to save themselves. The machine where the explosion came showed itself. It was John, the real John.

It was a dropship, hidden in the air. 

“Put it out or I’ll put you out,” a voice came from behind the leader of Athwarte. The leader turned around but was met with a solid punch that really put her down.

“Maggie?” Alex called, making sure that it was really Maggie she was seeing. “Is this real?”

Maggie smiled, showing the dimples Alex had not seen before. She touched Maggie’s face. They stared at each other, making a silent argument. Their glances battled each other, until tears arose, and they found themselves crying.

"Why did you do it?" Maggie hiccuped, tears rolling down with the same quietness. Alex sighed, wiping her own tears, her other hand fixed the strands of Maggie’s hair. She felt an urge to do something, to comfort her, to say that she wanted her to be safe and her people safe and that she knew that Maggie would come back for her. 

Maggie moved her head closer to Alex. She leant in, so her forehead rested against hers. They closed their eyes. Both their breaths were shaking. "Thank you," Maggie said in barely more than a whisper.

“You saved us all,” Alex said, but they both saved their people. “What will happen to them?” Alex was referring to the Athwartes that just vanished from the explosion.

“Back to Athwarte, away from here.”

In a moment, Alex pressed her lips against Maggie’s. She felt her body loosen and her arms touched her shoulders.

Alex kissed her and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be. Maggie chuckled beneath the salty tears, "You held on."

“I did, and you came back for me. You saved me.”

“I did.” And then they hovered right there. They didn’t mind the soldiers around them. It was quite soundless for so long, simply feeling each other's presence.

The war had ended and they had won.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Sanvers Fam! I just wanna thank you all so much for this event and I'm glad I got to be a part of this Big Bang event. If you have gotten this far, I wanna thank you for your patience and for reading my work. I wanna thank Sarah so much for the beta, thank you again for your patience and understanding. Thank you, Sephy for the artwork. I hope you all enjoy this one and remember that Sanvers is and will always be endgame.


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